What Do You Mean My Food & Water Are Toxic?

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By Amy Todisco

The U.S. government wouldn’t allow toxic chemicals in the food supply, right?

Sadly, yes, they do.

The Environmental Defense Fund tells us that, “Our food contains chemicals that may result in serious health risks, especially for young children. Some of these chemicals are purposefully added to food or packaging to flavor, color, preserve, package, process and store our food. Because of a flawed law and weak enforcement, many chemicals are inadequately tested or not tested at all, and others are never even independently reviewed for safety.”

Yuck. And, none of these things are really done for our health, it’s more about shelf life extension, increased profits, and enticing people to choose and eat these less than nutritious “foods.”

Ok, so what about our drinking water, surely there must be standards that prevent exposure to toxins in our drinking and bathing water? Yes and no.

There are “federal standards”, but often they do not do enough to protect the consumer. What’s considered an acceptable level doesn’t mean it’s safe.

According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-partisan non-profit dedicated to helping people live healthy lives, “...when some Americans drink a glass of tap water, they're also potentially getting a dose of industrial or agricultural contaminants linked to cancer, brain and nervous system damage, fertility problems, hormone disruption and other health harms.”

You’ve probably heard the cliches, “you are what you eat” and “let food be thy medicine.”

I’ve found both of these phrases to be true and it’s the reason that I’ve been focusing so heavily on what I eat and drink for most of my life. By eating clean, sustainably (certified organic) raised, whole, nutrient-dense foods, and clean drinking water, I’m safeguarding my health, staying out of the doctor’s office, and away from pharmaceuticals as much as possible.

But, these days it can be much more difficult to figure out what to eat.

You might be asking yourself: Which foods are truly healthy?

  • Which foods are best for my unique body and my belief systems
    (e.g. Vegan? Vegetarian? Ominvore? Keto? Raw food? And more…)

  • What’s actually in my food?

  • What’s in my drinking water?

Whether we realize it or not, the truth is that we’re all facing the realities of a poisoned food supply, a “sick care” system, and a toxic way of life that is neither healthy nor sustainable. We must make positive changes, and yet it can be overwhelming. I've found that it's a step-by-step process. We aren't striving for perfection, just learning how to choose safer, more environmentally friendly products and practices.

I’m going to share with you the top 2 actions that I tell my clients to start with so that YOU can begin choosing safer healthier food and water.

But first, a little more background...

There are an estimated 2,000 synthetic chemicals used in packaged conventional foods. Food companies don’t even need government approval to use these chemicals. Essentially the companies just declare that their product is safe without any independent testing to prove it. So, unfortunately it’s up to us to do our research. Some of the things that make food toxic include:

  • Pesticides

  • Genetic engineering

  • Irradiation

  • Fertilizing with sewage sludge

  • Adding artificial flavors, food dyes, and preservatives

  • Injecting animals (meat) with hormones and dosing them with antibiotics, and now mRNA vaccines

  • The latest thing is lab-created imitation "meats" and gene edited vegetables.

Conventional food seems more like a dangerous scientific experiment gone awry rather than safe nutritious food.

Pesticides are perhaps the most well-known food-related chemicals intentionally sprayed on our foods.
And, one of the easiest things that you can do to protect yourself is to avoid pesticides.

So, what are pesticides?

Pesticides are poisonous chemicals designed to kill or repel pests. They include:

  • Herbicides (kills weeds)

  • Insecticides (kills insects)

  • Fungicides (kills fungi)

  • and Rodenticides (kills rodents, like rats)

We're going to focus on the pesticides sprayed on food crops in this article.

Certified organic produce is not allowed to use toxic pesticides.

"Conventional" or regular food is.

All food used to be organic before the 1930's.

The use of petrochemical (derived from petroleum) fertilizers and pesticides began in the 1930's.

In a regular supermarket, they typically just label the certified organic produce, the rest is conventional. In a food coop or natural food store, both conventional and certified organic are labeled. Some so-called-experts tell you that you can just wash the pesticides off—and most likely they try and sell you a special spray for that. Unfortunately, some pesticides still remain, even after washing and peeling. That's because they've been sprayed on the produce while it’s growing and become incorporated into the vegetable or fruit.

And, here's an insider secret...which is not related to toxicity but is related to the quality of your food. Choose the produce in the back, not the ones in the front of the display. That's where they put the freshest stuff. I worked in a produce department on Martha's Vineyard one summer during college, so I learned that produce display trick. It's actually true of all products on the shelves too.

What to do?

One of the first things I suggest that my clients do is start switching over their produce to certified organic. Ideally, all of your food would be organically grown or raised. That’s something to aspire towards.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) says the following about pesticides:

"Nearly 75 percent of non-organic fresh produce sold in the U.S. contains residues of potentially harmful pesticides…"
"Research from Harvard University shows that consuming fruits and vegetables with high levels of pesticide residues may lessen the benefits of fruit and vegetable consumption, including protection against cardiovascular disease and mortality."

"Choosing organic fruits and vegetables can almost immediately reduce the amounts of residues in a person’s body, because the harmful chemicals used on non-organic, or conventional, produce are no longer a factor."

The EWG has created two lists to help shoppers determine which produce is the safest to purchase. One is called, The Dirty Dozen, and the other is The Clean Fifteen.

Here's a printable cheat sheet to take shopping with you.

Personally, I'd pass on anything genetically modified, particularly the sweet corn. Genetically modified corn is designed to withstand a lot of pesticides. It kills the pests on the corn, but not the corn.

What to do?

1. Eat as much certified organic as you can, especially the Dirty Dozen produce.

2. Print the cheat sheet so that you can take it to the store with you to make choosing healthier produce easier.

3. Choose your produce from the back of the display case as it's the freshest.

Now, onto water…

You can survive without food for a period of time, but not without water. Most likely you are being exposed to toxic chemicals in your drinking and bathing water.

Wait, what?

Maybe you thought that the Clean Water Act of 1972 was protecting you from toxins in drinking water. Sadly, no.

I’ve lived in Vermont for 22 years and have been fortunate to have good clean well water, though in some places radium can be an issue due to the large rocks in Vermont’s soil. This particular house that we built has excellent well water.

A really helpful tool to determine if your drinking and bathing water is free of toxins is to use the Environmental Working Group’s water database. EWG Tap Water Database

My daughter lives in an apartment building about 45 minutes away that is on a municipal water system. So, like any good mom, who is also a green living expert and mentor, I plugged in her zip code to see what was in her water. Eek! Eleven total contaminants were detected, 7 exceeded what the EWG researchers have determined are safe.

On the EWG site it states, “Legal does not necessarily equal safe. Getting a passing grade from the federal government does not mean the water meets the latest health guidelines. Legal limits for contaminants in tap water have not been updated in almost 20 years.”

So, what was in my daughter’s water? I don’t think that any of this stuff should be in our drinking water, however, I’m going to go with what EWG considers safe limits.

  • There was 50x the safe limit of Bromodichloromethane -may cause cancer.

  • 59 times the “safe” levels of Chloroform -may cause cancer.

  • 60 times the safe levels of Dichloroacetic acid -may cause cancer.

  • A whopping 233 times the safe levels of Haloacetic acids (HAA5) -may cause cancer.

  • 22 times the safe limit of Radium, combined (-226 & -228 -may cause cancer.

  • 178 times the safe limit of Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) -may cause cancer.

  • 112 times the safe limit of Trichloroacetic acid -may cause cancer.

  • The other four contaminants detected were: fluoride, manganese, monobromoacetic acid, and monochloroacetic acid.

How can this happen?

Typically, municipal systems are more focused on microbial threats, and yet 49% of the water-borne outbreaks tracked by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are due to chemicals or toxins.

What else might be in drinking water?

*Agricultural chemicals
*Arsenic
*Chloramines
*Chlorine
*Chromium
*Disinfection products
*Lead
*Mercury
*Microplastics
*PFAS
*Pharmaceutical medicines
*Volatile Organic Chemicals (VOC’s)

A few words about bath and shower water.

Your skin is the largest organ of your body and absorbs whatever you put on it. You could be absorbing more toxins from bathing/showering than drinking the same unfiltered water.

What about bottled water as an option? Nope.

According to CNN, more than one million bottles of water are sold every minute around the globe!! They also report that, “In 2021, global bottled water sales reached 350 billion liters and were valued at an estimated $270 billion, a figure expected to soar to $500 billion by 2030.”

Typically ground water is extracted to fill those bottles, which threatens people’s drinking water resources. And, what happens to the bottles once the consumer is done with it?

There is a tremendous amount of plastic produced for bottled water-600 billion produced in 2021. Most of that plastic (I’ve heard reports of 85%) doesn’t get recycled but instead ends up in landfills or out in the ocean. Plastic in the ocean is a huge problem. It gets into sea life—and then us when we eat the fish that actually survive.

Plastic also breaks down into micro-plastics, which can get into our food and water. Plastic also leaches toxic chemicals into drinking water (and other foods). If you leave a plastic water bottle (or juice) in your car when it’s warm (and/or sunny) outside, you definitely don’t want to drink it.

Fossil fuels are the main ingredient in most plastics, which carries a heavy carbon footprint. There’s so much more to say about plastic, but I’ll leave it there for now.

What to do?

1. Find out what’s in YOUR drinking and bathing water: EWG Tap Water Database

2. The main immediate solution is to filter your water with a good quality filtration system.

Just a note though...those popular plastic pour-through pitchers don’t take much out of the water, and you have to replace the filters very frequently. So, though they may seem cheap and easy to use, they’re not very effective.

For many years, before I lived in Vermont and had good well water, I used a brand of tap water filters called Lakota Scientific. They also have a shower filter. In my early green living days, I did a ton of research on all things green and non-toxic. I was very impressed with the founder, Barry, who is a chemist and engineer, and extremely knowledgeable about water and water filtration. They’re a family company, devoted to providing excellent customer service, which I can totally attest to as that has been my experience. They’ve been around for 33 years. Both my mom and sister have been happily using Lakota Scientific filters too.

If you want to check it out, here’s the link: https://www.lakotascientific.com/?afmc=Greenliving (Full disclosure, I get a small affiliate fee if you purchase BUT I only promote products that I’ve researched and used myself. That’s always been my policy.)

There’s sooo much to know about how to reduce your exposure to toxins in food and every-day products. If you’d like to learn more, I’ve got a free live masterclass coming up that will give you at least 9 actionable items that you can start using right away, and the opportunity to ask me your pressing questions. Sign up for the waiting list for the next class here: https://catalystforchangecoach.ck.page/b9e17ee69e

 ©2023 Amy D. Todisco All Rights Reserved